SPORTS: June Henley sets the all-time Kansas rushing record for freshmen in the Jayhawks' 35-20 victory against Iowa State. Page 9.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VOL.103.NO.41
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1993
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
(USPS 650-640)
By Shan Schwartz Kansan staff writer
This school year marks the 20th anniversary of a prominent campus building that doesn't get much respect.
"It's so ugly."
"It doesn't fit in on campus."
"What an atrocity!"
Those are some of the things KU students — both past and present — say about Wescoe Hall.
Sitting atop Mount Oread at the heart of campus, Wescoe's massive concrete structure is a blemish on KU's complexion.
Since it opened in 1973, however, the "building for the humanities" has played an indispensable role in KU's daily operation.
It is a wonder Wescoe was ever built at all.
But Wesco's 20-year life is not nearly as remarkable as the building's conception and labor which began more than 10 years before its completion.
A building for humanities
With a steadily growing student body in the 1950s and 1960s, KU needed new buildings. The University planning board recognized a need for a central building to house the scattered humanities offices.
Francis Heller, professor emeritus of law, was at KU at that time serving as associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, member of the campus planning board, and later, the dean of faculty. Heller said the idea for a centralized humanities building first emerged in the mid-1950s.
"The original notion was that we wanted to bring all the humanities together into one building," Heller said. "At that time, they existed in 12 separate buildings on campus."
KU administrators studied sources of funding for a large building, and they discovered KU could qualify for federal educational building grants if the state provided some funding first.
The Kansas Legislature allocated about $4 million for the building in 1964.
Heller said. Then, KU applied for a grant and qualified for about $2 million from the federal government. The application process, however, delayed the project nearly a year.
The next step was to select an architect — not an easy process. Because state funds were being used for the building, the contract had to be awarded within the state. In addition, the state architect was then a governor's appointee, and therefore, political interests were always a consideration, Heller said.
"This was the largest building project the state had ever taken on," Heller said. "There were few architects in Kansas that could do a project of this size and even fewer that would be considered due to the political climate."
Finally, the Wichita architectural firm Woodman and Van Doren was chosen to design the $6 million humanities building.
26 stories of Wescoe
NEWS:8644810
On Nov. 19, 1967, the University held a press conference with the architects and revealed the plans for Wescoe Hall — a mammoth building consisting of a five-story, L-shaped base with a 21-story tower on top.
The humanities building would have been the tallest building in Kansas at the time.
"Everyone was awe-struck by those drawings," Heller said. "We thought, 'This thing is going to sit on the hill 26
stories high. People are going to see this from 25 or 30 miles away.'
"The chancellor said, "This is very impressive, but do you know what it will cost?" Heller recalled.
But Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe had one question for the architects.
"And the architects replied, 'That is not our concern, sir. We hope you are impressed by this plan and will find the money to pay for it.'"
The answer to Chancellor Wescoe's question came in February 1968 when all of the contractors' bids surpassed $7 million — $1 million more than KU had to spend.
Under direction from the Board of Regents, the architects cut 10 stories from the tower. The project again was released for contractors' bidding with an anticipated groundbreaking Sept. 1.
But again, bids for the shortened building came in at around $7 million. In September 1968, the Regents sent the plans back to the drawing board for additional revision.
Max Lucas, who served on the campus planning board during Wescoe's construction and who is now dean of architecture and urban design, said rapidly rising construction costs caught the Wescoe project at the wrong time.
"There was a period of time there when construction costs skycrocketed," Lucas said. "Wesco was caught right in that cycle. If you were working on a building over a year, you didn't know what the costs would be."
March 1968
Plan: 16 stories
Price: $7 million
Enrollment: 14,891
November 1987
Plan: 26 stories
Price: $7 million
Enrollment: 15,791
Fall 1988
Plan: none
Price: $0
Enrollment: 16,482
December 1968
In the meantime, some federal funding was lost. The grants were supplied with time limits, and the delays caused some of the grants to be lost.
Fall 1899
Plan: four stories
Price: $7.8 million
Enrollment: 17,576
The 'Wescoe Hole'
Finally, Heller said, the state dismissed the original architects and paid them for their work. The architects' fees cost KU more than $200,000, and the University had little to show for it.
The work continued between the state and the architects, and the tower was cut entirely. The five-story base was redesigned to accommodate more offices and fewer classrooms. But those changes were not sufficient to supply the building with the facilities KU needed.
Source: Kansan staff research
John Paul Foget/KANSAN
State laws at the time did not allow the sale of revenue bonds to pay for academic buildings. The Regents appealed to the Legislature in spring of 1969 to change those laws, but the Legislature was slow to act.
The University and the Regents were struggling with two problems: finding architects to design a new building and finding sources of money to make up for the lost federal funds.
The University also was facing the loss of more federal funding, so old buildings on the site of the new hall were razed to demonstrate progress.
Old Haworth and old Robinson Gymnasium were torn down, and students derisively termed the site "Wescoe Hole." The hole sat for almost two years, and students and faculty were beginning to wonder if the humanities building was only a myth.
Classroom space needs are increasing dramatically because of a growing student body. The total student enrollment increased 30 percent from Fall 1965, when all the funds were acquired for the building, to Fall 1969, when the ground still sat empty with no plans for a building.
Heller said the classrooms were so limited that at one time all students had to enroll in two Saturday classes. Later, freshmen were required to enroll in 7 a.m. classes during the week to accom-
See WESCOE, Page 6.
Student life dean resigns for Ohio job
By Christoph Fuhrmans
Kansan staff writer
Caryl Smith, dean of student life, announced Friday her plans to leave the University of Kansas to work at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio.
Smith said the opportunity for career advancement at Akron was too great to pass up.
"I think urban institutions like this one are where the action is in higher education," she said.
Smith will finish the fall semester at KU and begin working at Akron on Jan. 1, where she will be the vice president of the division of student support services.
Ambler said he was pleased for Smith, but he would miss his friend from graduate school at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.
David Ambler, vice chancellor for student affairs, said the department of student life would have an interim dean for Spring 1993 and a search committee would select a new dean, probably by the end of the spring semester.
"She has for some time wanted to be a chief student affairs officer," he said. "She is an impeccable professional worker very dedicated to student affairs work."
Despite advancing her career, Smith said that leaving her friends and husband, Walter Smith, professor of curriculum and instruction at KU, would be difficult.
"there are always hard things about transitions," she said.
Walter Smith said he would finish the academic year at KU and then join his wife in the summer and possibly stay in Akron.
"I would like to find something as good as I have at KU," he said.
Linda Moore, dean of fine and applied arts at Akron and head of Akron's search committee, said the interview process began in May with 80 applicants and ended in September with three finalists.
Moore said the final three people were Smith, George Taylor, vice president of student affairs at California State University, Los Angeles; and George Antonelli, head of student affairs for the North Carolina systems office. The system office oversees all universities in North Carolina.
"We thought she had the characteristics to meet the job," Moore said. "We needed someone who had strong leadership skills."
Barbara Ballard, associate dean of student life, said she was pleased that Smith had a new career opportunity at Akron but sad that Smith was leaving KU.
"I think you're always a little surprised when someone is leaving." Ballard said.
After being surrounded by KU's crimson and blue for so long, Smith said it would be hard getting used to Akron's blue and gold colors and the university's kangaroo mascot, the Zip.
"While the University of Akron has a cute mascot, it's nothing like a.Jawhawk," she said.
New class to explore issues of male gender
By Kevin Hoffmann
Special to the Kansan
Are there any "real men" left in the world today?
Are there any real men here on WorldofStudies?
KU students may find that out this spring when the department of American Studies offers a new course — "Real Men: Studies in Male Gender."
Although not listed in the Spring 1993 timetable, the course, AMS 696, will be offered next semester. Information on the course can be obtained from the department of American studies or any adviser. The line number is 13264.
The course will look at questions surrounding male gender. What makes a real man — his sexual orientation or behavior, gender or social roles? Has manhood changed in America?
Geoffrey Steere, associate professor of American Studies, will direct the interactive discussion and lecture course.
"We'll look at the construction of gender and what it means to be a male at different periods of time," Steere said.
Homecoming Weekend
Drizzling rain failed to dampen the spirits of students and alumni at homecoming activities, including Friday's parade down Jayhawk Boulevard.
Page 7.
Talk show host not bothered by criticism
By Carlos Tejada
Kansan staff writer
Russ Johnson said LesBiGay Services of Kansas' condemnation of his show did not bother him.
On Friday, Johnson defended his decision to schedule anti-gay activist the Rev. Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka for his show on Oct. 11. Originally, two members of LesBiGayS OK had been scheduled to talk about National Coming Out Day.
"It's a publicity stunt," said the host of the KJHK talk show "The Russ Johnson Show."
Instead, the show featured a debate between Phelps and Eric Moore, Lawrence junior and member of LesBiGayS OK, who originally was scheduled to appear. Phelps, who did most of the talking, criticized the "homosexual lifestyle" and condemned National Coming Out Day.
LesBiGay SOK protested the show Tuesday in a letter to KJHK and said it would cut all ties with the radio station until Johnson resigned.
Johnson, Duluth, Minn., junior, said the purpose of his show was to entertain his audience, and Phelps would provide such entertainment. He said he denied he ever told the members of LesBiGayS OK he allowed Phelps to speak because he was "newsworthy."
"The fact of the matter is that Fred Phelps is a kook, and I had him on the show," Johnson said.
Johnson said he was justified in allowing Phelps on the show during National Coming Out Day.
"We had thought it appropriate to have somebody who has an extreme point of view on the other end," he said.
He said he had been unaware that Jennifer Papanek, Lawrence senior and co-
LesBiGayS OK was offered an appearance on the next day's show but declined, Johnson said.
Russ Johnson
director of LesBiGayS OK, had also been scheduled to appear.
who is a member of LesBiGayS OK, said he had resigned from the show in protest but changed his mind last week.
"I'm smart enough and responsible enough, with a group like that, to not be
Johnson said although Papanek had refused, Moore agreed to appear and debate Phelps. Johnson said that he did not harass Moore, as the letter from LesBiGaySOK claims, but that Moore "fell apart" once he was on the air.
irresponsible." Johnson said.
But Moore said he had felt "gay-bashed" both by Phelps and Johnson.
"Iknew Fred Phelps would be hostile, but I didn't know Russ Johnson would be hostile as well," he said.
Moore said Johnson made fun of LesBiGayS OK's name and at one point joked about Moore's sexual orientation. But Johnson said he made fun of every group's name.
Papanek compared scheduling Phelps' appearance on the show with scheduling a member of the Black Student Union with a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
But Papanekalso said LesBiGayOK was not interested in banning Phelps from KJHK or censoring of "The Russ Johnson Show" in any way.
"He could have Phelps on his show every day for the rest of his natural life," Papanek said. "We were just unprepared."